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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State During a Corporate Tug-of-War

However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: Political Influence

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of Further Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the latest merger game.